In a continuing effort to improve the quality of shipping fruits, I, the inventor, typically hybridize a large number of peach, nectarine, plum, apricot, and cherry seedlings each year. I also grow a lesser number of open pollinated seeds of each of these fruits, usually to capture recessive traits. The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of nectarine tree, which has been denominated varietally as ‘KAY DIAMOND VII’.
During the spring of 1998 I gathered fruit from several different unnamed seedlings in my experimental orchard located near Le Grand, Calif., in Merced County (San Joaquin Valley). One particular group of nectarines was early in maturing, yellow in flesh color, and clingstone in type, and was thus designated as “EN (OP)”. I used embryo rescue techniques to germinate the seeds from this fruit, grew them as seedlings on their own root in my greenhouse, and upon reaching dormancy transplanted them to a cultivated area in the experimental orchard described above. During the fruit evaluation season of 2001 I selected the claimed variety as a single tree from the group of “EN (OP)”, described above. Subsequent to origination of the present variety of nectarine tree, I asexually reproduced it by budding and grafting in the experimental orchard described above, and such reproduction of plant and fruit characteristics were true to the original plant in all respects. The reproduction of the variety included the use of ‘Nemaguard’ rootstock (unpatented) upon which the present variety was compatible and true to type.
The present variety is most similar to ‘Rose Bright’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,845) nectarine by producing nectarines that are very firm in texture, clingstone in type, yellow in flesh color, and full red in skin color, but is distinguished therefrom by having leaves that are eglandular rather than having globose glands, by having a bitter instead of sweet kernel, by requiring less chilling hours during the dormant season, and by producing fruit that is larger in size and sweeter in flavor.